Kitten season has begun already. Cats can have kittens at any time of the year, but the birthrate peaks in the spring and early summer. My rescue group has already taken in 3 mama cats with tiny babies that were dumped at the pound, and one pregnant cat that gave birth soon after her rescue. One of the mamas with babies came to my house.
My mama cat, Ivy, is only a baby herself. Judging by her teeth, she is barely six months old. Many people don't realize that a female cat can come into heat as young as 4 months. She is a tiny thing, just skin and bones. She is very tame and sweet, so she must have been raised with humans who handled her gently, but they apparently didn't keep her safe in the house, or spay her, or even feed her adequately to support her pregnancy. I suspect her kittens were a total surprise to whomever raised her, and apparently more trouble than they cared to cope with, so they abandoned her and her two-day-old babies at the pound.
Ivy is showing symptoms of an upper respiratory infection. There is a very high risk of her kittens catching it, and unfortunately, kittens this young frequently don't survive the infection. I'm terrified of losing all five of them. But meanwhile, I'm enjoying their sweet presence in my home, and hoping I will be able to watch them grow and find good homes.
This week I also made a trip to a foster's home in a small rural town about an hour's drive away, to deliver a chain-link kennel run to contain the litter of puppies that were born at her house. After we set up the kennel, I spent some time enjoying the puppies and the beautiful day.
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